Accurately determining and indicating an amount of fuel contained within a fuel tank can often be critical for a vehicle operator. The fuel amount may be used to determine when and where the vehicle should be refueled prior to the fuel tank being emptied. A typical fuel tank utilizes a dedicated fuel level sensor, such as a floating sensor coupled to a variable resistor, to determine the amount of fuel remaining in the fuel tank.
However, such fuel level sensors may be prone to sticking, malfunctioning, or decoupling from the vehicle powertrain control module, leading to inaccuracies in the outputs of the sensor. As such, estimates of the fuel level may become inaccurate, and an in-dash fuel gauge may provide an inaccurate or indeterminate fuel level to a vehicle operator. This may lead to the vehicle running out of fuel if the fuel gauge overestimates the amount of fuel remaining in the tank, and/or may lead to increased operator anxiety stemming from not knowing how much fuel is remaining in the tank.
As such, diagnostic tests may periodically be performed on the fuel level sensor. For example, outputs of the fuel level indicator may be monitored over a duration, such as over a period of 100 miles of engine combustion, to determine if the fuel level indicator is stuck or has a worn resistive track. When degradation of the fuel level sensor is detected, a vehicle operator may be alerted so that the sensor may be replaced and/or repaired.
However, the inventors herein have recognized potential issues with such systems. As one example, the fuel gauge may not provide an accurate estimate of the fuel level after degradation of the fuel level sensor is detected. As such, a vehicle operator may not know how much fuel is in the fuel tank until the fuel level sensor is replaced and/or repaired. Thus, the vehicle may be prone to running out of fuel between the time at which degradation of the fuel level sensor is detected, and when the repair and/or replacement of the sensor occurs. Further, the vehicle may be unavailable to the vehicle operator while the sensor is being repaired and/or replaced.
In one example, the issues described above may be addressed by a method comprising receiving a refueling report from the vehicle operator, adjusting an estimated fuel level in a fuel tank based on the refueling report, and adjusting a fuel gauge based on the adjusted fuel level estimate, the fuel gauge providing a visual indication to the vehicle operator of an amount of fuel included in the fuel tank. The refueling report may include an indication of an amount of fuel dispensed into the fuel tank during a refueling event. In particular, the amount of fuel dispensed into the fuel tank may be provided by a fuel reading display of a refueling station. Thus, by receiving an indication of the amount of fuel added to the fuel tank during refueling events, the accuracy of estimates of the fuel level may be increased when a fuel level sensor is determined to be degraded.
In another representation, a method for a vehicle comprises adjusting a fuel level reading displayed to a vehicle operator based on: in a first mode, outputs from a fuel level indicator (FLI) sensor, and in a second mode, an amount of fuel added to a fuel tank during a most recent refueling event, and an amount of fuel consumed since the most recent refueling event. The amount of fuel consumed since the most recent refueling event may be estimated based on a commanded fuel injection amount since the most recent refueling event. Thus, the accuracy of estimates of the fuel level may be increased when a fuel level sensor becomes degraded by adjusting fuel level estimates based on the amount of fuel added to the fuel tank during a refueling event, and based on an amount of fuel consumed by an engine during engine operation.
In yet a further representation, a system comprises a fuel level indicator (FLI) sensor for indicating an amount of fuel included within a fuel tank, a fuel gauge that provides a visual indication of the amount of fuel included within the fuel tank to a vehicle operator, and a controller with computer-readable instructions stored in non-transitory memory for: adjusting the fuel gauge based on outputs from the FLI sensor when the FLI sensor is not degraded, and in response to determining that the FLI sensor is degraded, adjusting the fuel gauge based on a refueling report and an amount of fuel injected by one or more fuel injectors since a most recent refueling of the fuel tank.
In this way, more accurate estimates of the fuel level in a fuel tank may be achieved when a fuel level sensor becomes degraded. In particular, by adjusting fuel level estimates based on an amount of fuel added to the fuel tank during a refueling event, more accurate estimates of the fuel level may be attained after the refueling event. As such, vehicle stalls resulting from fuel exhaustion may be reduced and/or prevented. Additionally, a vehicle operator may delay the replacement and/or repair of a degraded fuel level sensor. Further, by utilizing a fuel reading display of a refueling station which displays the amount of fuel added to the fuel tank, costs incurred from including additional flow meters or devices in the fuel system for measuring the amount of fuel added to the tank during the refueling event may be reduced.
The above advantages and other advantages and features of the present description will be readily apparent from the following detailed description when taken alone or in connection with the accompanying drawings.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.